Prior to Samsung’s official unveiling of the next series of its Galaxy A devices, a listing for the upcoming Galaxy A5 (2018) has popped up on the South Korean phone maker’s website, and the phone is bearing the model number SM-A530N. That is the same model number that was spotted last week in a regulatory listing that contained the device’s basic profile, published by the South Korean National Radio Research Agency. The listing indicated that the next mid-range handset coming from Samsung will have the model number SM-A530, with the SM-A530N being one of the variants for that device. The sighting of the Galaxy A5 (2018) on Samsung’s website does not reveal much, however.
The Galaxy A5 (2018) has been making the rounds on the web in recent times, though. Previous rumors had it that Samsung plans to squeeze some of the features that launched along with its 2017 flagship devices into the Galaxy A5 (2018) and other members of the Galaxy A (2018) series. More specifically, a number of unofficial renders that popped up last month on China’s Weibo social network supposedly showing the Galaxy A5 (2018) suggested the upcoming mid-range handset will feature a full-screen design, also known as the Infinity Display. It is interesting to note that the Infinity Display panel is also found on the Galaxy S8, Galaxy S8 Plus, and the Galaxy Note 8. Furthermore, it is hard to rule out the possibility that the upcoming Galaxy A5 (2018) will adopt such a display panel, as previous reports suggested that Samsung has been seeking to apply the bezel-less design signature inherent in its high-end phones to its mid-range series.
As for the other key specs of the smartphone, earlier reports indicated that the device would be powered by a Samsung-made System-on-Chip (SoC), possibly the as yet unannounced Exynos 7885. That chipset has been reportedly built on a 10nm FinFET process and it supposedly includes a total of six CPU cores and the Mali-G71 graphics chip. A recent Geekbench benchmark listing also revealed other specs and features of the phone, including 4GB of RAM and Android 7.1.1 Nougat, though it is highly likely the Galaxy A5 (2018) will see some significant changes on the software side of things once it hits the shelves. It remains to be seen when Samsung plans to launch the next generation of Galaxy A series, with industry watchers speculating that it could be in early 2018, January, most probably.